St. Martha’s Parish and School in Okemos and St. Mary’s Catholic School in Williamston are planning to cut their tuition by more than 80 percent in hopes to attract and enroll more students.
The cost to attend St. Martha’s school is $4,700 a student, but starting next year it will only cost $1,000 per student. Tuition also will offer a $3,000 a year cap for families no matter how many students they enroll in the school.
St. Martha’s Parish and School officials confirmed that enrollment is declining. This offers an opportunity for the public to get an education at St. Martha’s and gain more students.
Bonnie Maluchnik has a son that attends St. Martha’s and says she’s excited for the changes and for more families to join the school.
“We feel this is a huge bonus for the area,” said Maluchnik.
Maluchnik says it’s also a chance for people who couldn’t afford the tuition in the past to take a second look.
“Some that would love to come to St. Martha but the cost was just a bit too high for them, we feel that this is going to attract a lot more additional families here,” said Maluchnik.
The decision didn’t come lightly though, and with a $3,700 difference in tuition per student, from one year to the next, Patton says she’s not extremely worried about finances.
“There’s always going to be concerns when it comes to funding education, but we have a strong parish here, and we have a lot of support from the parish and from our current families,” said Patton.
Both Patton and Maluchnik agreed that the plan will play out as planned.
“We’re confident that this will work and that we’ll be available for many different students,” said Patton.
Principal Patton says they wanted Williamston involved too and told them what they planned to do.
St. Martha Parish and School will be holding a Prospective Family Day on March 24th and St. Mary School will be holding an Information Night on March 28th.
